IRL: Chicagoland: Panther Racing race report

Rookie Mutoh Sets Fastest Lap of Race, Finishes in Eighth Place
Problems for Both Meira, Matsuura Lead to DNFs at Chicagoland Speedway
JOLIET, Ill. (September 9, 2007) -- In what was a thrilling final
race of the 2007 IndyCar Series season,...

Rookie Mutoh Sets Fastest Lap of Race, Finishes in Eighth Place
Problems for Both Meira, Matsuura Lead to DNFs at Chicagoland Speedway

JOLIET, Ill. (September 9, 2007) -- In what was a thrilling final
race of the 2007 IndyCar Series season, it was Super Aguri Panther Racing
driver Hideki Mutoh who set the fastest lap of the race on the final
circuit of the 200-lap event. The former Indy Pro Series star, making his
first start of the season in the PEAK Antifreeze Indy 300, was able to
climb from his 13th-place starting position and into eighth place, the
best result of Panther's three entrants.

Both Vitor Meira and Kosuke Matsuura encountered mechanical problems late
in the event that forced both the Panasonic and Delphi teams to park
early, and they finished 17th and 18th, respectively.

Meira was the first to exit the 200-lap event, when a mechanical failure
on his right-rear caused his No. 4 Delphi Panther Dallara Honda to spin
into the wall between turns three and four of the 1.5-mile oval. Vitor,
who started 15th, was able to make several impressive moves during the
race and climbed to within the Top Ten before his first pit stop on Lap
38.

The No. 4 car came to life after tire pressure adjustment on the first
stop, and Meira climbed to eighth where he battled with Danica Patrick,
but the Panther team watched another solid finish slip away when the
failure happened on Lap 137 and Meira was relegated to 18th place.

Shortly after Meira's crash, Matsuura saw his race come to a close.
The Panasonic team realized they were experiencing a problem and pitted
on laps 131, 142, 143 and 145 to see if they could make changes, but a
alternator issue forced the team to park the No. 55 car before the race
concluded.

Kosuke ended the season with two Top Five finishes -- a personal
best -- and a total of five Top Tens. He ranked 16th in the final
IndyCar Series championship.

It was during the yellow flag after Meira's crash that Mutoh was
left a lap behind. Having already pitted his No. 60 car for tires and
fuel on Lap 127, Hideki was caught a lap down on sequence. It
didn't hold back the team's third driver, who fought with
league veterans A.J. Foyt IV, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Buddy Rice throughout
the second half of the event.

During the final three-lap shootout, Mutoh was able to climb pasted the
lapped car of Sarah Fisher and then Rice, for position, to claim the
eighth position. He set the fastest lap of the race at 216.646 mph on the
final lap of the race.

Hideki Mutoh:

"My goal was to finish top ten but that was like a dream, so
I'm very happy that I was able to make that dream come true. I
enjoyed racing with other veteran drivers and I would like to thank the
Super Aguri Panther team, spotter Mike Ford, team owner John Barnes and
all our sponsors for giving me this opportunity. Nothing about next year
has been decided, but hopefully I'll be able to step up into the
IndyCar Series full time and start my new racing career here in this
league."

Vitor Meira:

"It felt like something broke. We're going to have to look at
it to figure out what happened. But thankfully this season is over.
It's been a long year for the Delphi crew and they deserved more
for all their hard work. It's been a rough year for me, for them,
for the car and for everybody. Now we're going to focus on how we
can make this better for next season."

Kosuke Matsuura:

"I really wanted to finish this season with a good result so it is
disappointing that I couldn't even finish the race today. My season
has been tough but the results were getting better and better recently so
I was looking forward to showing my best performance today. I would like
to that the Super Aguri Panther team, Panasonic and all our sponsors for
their support this season."